US 7,400,950 B2
OPTICAL SENSING SYSTEM AND SYSTEM FOR STABILIZING MACHINE-CONTROLLABLE VEHICLESGeneral
US 7,400,950 B2
OPTICAL SENSING SYSTEM AND SYSTEM FOR STABILIZING MACHINE-CONTROLLABLE VEHICLES
Tech Center:
3600 Transportation, Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Security and License and Review
Examiner:
Richard M. Camby
Art Unit:
3661 Computerized Vehicle Controls and Navigation, Radio Wave, Optical and Acoustic Wave Communication, Robotics, and Nuclear Systems
Agent:
Inventors:
Stefan Reich
Assignee:
Priority:
03/21/05
Filed:
03/21/05
Granted:
07/15/08
Expiration:
08/24/25
Abstract
In order to measure the movement of a vehicle, especially an aircraft, an imaging optical system 2 which is to be positioned on the vehicle is used to detect an image of the environment 4, and an optoelectronic shift sensor 3 chip of the type comprising an inherent evaluation unit is used to measure any shift of the image from structures thereof. The shift sensor is equal or similar to the sensor used on an optical mouse. The sensor is positioned in such a way that infinite objects are focused. The measuring signal is evaluated to indicate movements and/or the position of the aircraft. The inventive system can also be used to measure distances e.g. in order to control the flight altitude. The invention further relates to methods for automatically controlling particularly a hovering flight by means of a control loop using optical flow measurement.
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
G01G01S11/12G01P3/806G01SA63H27/12A63HG05D1/0858G05D